


Concilliabule

by Davechicken



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Dark, Inappropriate Use of the Force, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-05
Updated: 2016-08-05
Packaged: 2018-07-29 12:01:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7683775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Davechicken/pseuds/Davechicken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A secret meeting of people who are hatching a plot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Concilliabule

Kylo Ren has been the bane of Hux’s life since they were introduced.

‘Introduced’ is probably a polite way of putting it, and he doesn’t feel much like being polite today. He has a habit of causing destruction and disorder wherever he goes.   


Hux bets Grand Moff Tarkin never had this to deal with, but he had a real Sith and not whatever fake version Ren is. He’s been informed there’s a _difference_ , but really, the point is moot. They use the Force, they’re ‘good’ or ‘bad’ (or ‘Light’ or ‘Dark’ or ‘spinward’ or…) and they’re all self-important idiots.

Possibly the Leader isn’t so much of an _idiot_ , but he **is** self-important. Hux thinks it’s perfectly fine to act like that if you’ve got the firepower to back you up, and so far he begrudgingly admits that Snoke has it. You don’t end up in control of an organisation like the First Order without a cunning head on your shoulders (no matter how old both head and shoulders are).

Ren is… an interesting case. Hux doesn’t know how he’s managed to keep going as long as he has, because the lapses in judgement and flawed battle plans have been steadily mounting for a while, and now seem to be coming to a head around the erstwhile Jedi Master - his _uncle_ \- finally being within reach.

Or… he would have been, had Ren not _insisted on being the single most inefficient, skittish, maladaptive and histrionic piece of shit the Order had ever known_.

You know. That. It had been one fuck up after another, and _yes_ , okay, so Hux hadn’t sufficiently planned for Human error (and he still couldn’t believe Phasma, of all people– but that was another issue) and a chain reaction of problems had tumbled his pride and joy, but he’d owned up to his mistakes and they haunted him at night.

He doubts Kylo even agrees he did anything wrong. And he _did_. Multiple things. So many that Hux has almost lost count. (Almost. Hux, in fact, has a running tally.) There’s no way the Leader should continue to court the failed Knight, really. The cachet of his name can’t possibly be worth risking _everything_ over, and that’s simply what’s happening. The failure to report the presence of Resistance infiltration units on their base, the issue with the girl, the droid, the pilot… he’s putting _everything_ at risk. And why?

Because he can’t see two feet away from his nose in that stupid mask?

It’s not even like they trade on his family ties. Kylo Ren’s parentage is the worst kept secret in the galaxy. Simply forbidding the name ‘Ben Organa-Solo’ from being uttered doesn’t nullify the genetic donors’ contributions. Plus, both of them like to harp on about Darth Vader, and that’s - well.

 _He_ was a Sith, apparently. 

Ren is more liability than asset. Even if the other Knights are nothing much to call home about, they haven’t shown their childish, destructive streaks to such an extent. The Leader would be wise to–

“To what?”  


Hux startles, a wince from long-learned response flooding him with that momentary fear before he chides himself for it. _This is not him_. This is Ren. He sights down the bridge of his nose like a sniper. “What are you blathering about, now?”

“You were thinking that the Leader should do something about me.”  


Fuck. Well. Yes, he was. But he hadn’t expected the other to be able to trespass in his mind as easily as that, and it sends a cool chill along his spine. “Did I give you permission to enter my mind?”

“No, but why would I ask it? I can simply take, and you are incapable of resisting me.”  


That annoys him. Hux knows - from the old Imperial records - that some minds (usually based on their species) can resist the mental probing and control of a Jedi, Sith, or whatever Ren is. It annoys him that some _aliens_ can do what he cannot, but then some aliens can lick their own eyeballs and anus, and he has no desire to do either of _those_ things.

“Surely you have better things to do?”  


“Perhaps. But this is what I am doing, right now.”  


Hux hates him.

“You think you know me.”  


“I know enough, and I don’t care to know any more,” Hux snaps back at him, all but baring his teeth in the process.  


“Ah. So you see, you’ve already lost.”  


Okay, so Hux - damnit - _is_ naturally inquisitive. It’s just sensible to want to know everything about everyone. It’s _power_. And the man can see inside his head, even if he can’t see ins–

Kylo shakes his head, under the mask. “You keep making the same mistakes.”

“Not shooting you in your sleep?”  


“Assuming what you see is what I am.”  


Which means - what? What? Kylo Ren is an angry, tantruming baby. He’s an overgrown toddler with stupid magical powers. He’s… clearly trying to tell him something, and the fact that Hux doesn’t already know _what_ irks him terribly. Unless Ren is just lying to himself, or Hux. “Well, then? Out with it.”

“You know the Sith almost wiped one another out, don’t you? I suspect you read everything on record about the Force when I was assigned to your ship, if not before.”  


“How is this relevant? You regularly point out your’re _not_ a Sith.”  


“It’s relevant because I am still alive. It is relevant because the last Emperor of the galaxy had a habit of playing his apprentices - _plural_ \- off against one another.”  


“And making ridiculous mistakes somehow makes you _safer_?”  


“It means someone’s focus is on _training_ me, on _guiding_ me, and not on **containing me**.”  


Hux can’t stop his eyes going wide. Truly? The disasters are part of a massive _bluff_? “You’re lying.”

“Am I?”  


“You’re testing my loyalty. Or my patience.”

“ _Am I?”_ Just a question, just a snark under that modulator, and Hux’s skin crawls.   


“If you _were_ planning a mutiny - _if_ \- why would you tell me? You have no guarantee I won’t betray you.” There’s no love lost between them.  


“I know you too well, General. You love power, and you hate the Force. I love the Force, and I have no desire for… your form of power. Your ships and your troops.”  


So he’s proposing a partnership? Hux feels a frown making his nose crinkle, and he speeds through options faster than his metabolism works. “How would working with you be any different? You’d still want overall rule, surely?”

“I’d be much more interested in delegated autonomy where practical,” Kylo demurs. “Within reason.”  


Hux considers this. If it's genuine... if. Big if. But if it is, it would be the coup of the century, rivalling Palpatine himself. Throwing over an old and powerful Dark Side magnate... But would he be trading the devil he knew for one he did not? 

That said, he really didn't know Ren if he truly was this coldly calculating, and if he was telling the truth... Then Hux has to begrudgingly admire him. 

And realise that, should he refuse to back him, Ren has even less reason to keep him around. 

"You've demonstrated that my thoughts are not my own, though. How could I ever conceal this from him?"

"You can't. It's why I keep making you forget."

Wait, what? 

"I just check when you think too closely about it that you're still in favour. When the time comes, I'll let you remember everything."

"No," Hux whispers, horrified. "Leave my memories out of this." If he doesn't even have his own mind, what does he have? 

"It's the only way to keep you alive," Kylo says. "When you're the leader of the Order - and I of the Knights - you'll forgive me."

"I won't," Hux replies. "How could I ever trust you again?"

"Because I'll tell you the truth that day, when I could instead keep all these moments from you."

He's reeling from this, feeling like the artificial gravity has been turned off. There's no sense to anything anymore. It's... "Why me?"

"You're the only one I would trust, General. It won't be long, now. All your hard work will pay off."

"Don't... don't wipe me, not yet," he pleads. "Give me time. I need to... I need to think about this, I--"

"I'm sorry, Hux. It's for your own good."

"What is?" 

"Nothing." 

Hux frowns at the Knight in front of him. He sneaks up on him far too often, and he's starting to wonder if the man has some obsessive interest in him. "Unless you have something to say to me, I suggest you stop wasting my time."

Ren tilts his masked face. "Of course," he says, and glides away as quickly as he came. 

Hux has a headache. He can't remember what he was working on, and that annoys him. Ren is forever breaking his focus. He can't wait for him to make his final mistake and then he can be rid of him.

A niggle. A strange sensation in his chest. It's... probably just gas. Yes. 

He couldn't possibly be worried about _missing_ him. No. 


End file.
